Founded by John and Marie Hilke in 1974 over a Freeburg café that got tired of waiting on its ice supplier. Now run by their son Laron and his wife Donna -- the same family, the same phone number, mid-Missouri's largest ice supply company.
In the 1960s John Hilke gave up long-haul trucking, came home to Freeburg, and opened a café with his wife Marie. A car wash followed. Then, in 1974, the ice supplier kept showing up late.
"We got tired of waiting for ice," Marie said. So John drove to St. Louis and came back with a machine that made 400 pounds of ice a day. Word got around. People started stopping by to buy the surplus. By July, ice was officially part of the family business.
That Labor Day weekend, Holy Family Catholic Church called for the parish picnic. Their old supplier told them "the Hilkes are in the ice business now -- get it from them." John drove back to St. Louis and returned with two more machines. The ice business had found the Hilkes whether they were looking for it or not.
In 1975 they moved the operation next to the car wash. In 1977 they sold the café. In 1983 they razed the car wash to make room for a bigger plant. Over the years, eleven other ice companies joined the fold. At peak season today, Hilke's makes 120 tons of cubed ice and two tons of block ice every twenty-four hours, seven days a week.
Hilke's HQ · Freeburg, MO Five decades, three locations, four service lines, and the same family answering the phone.
John and Marie Hilke open the ice business as a side line to Hilke's Café in Freeburg -- because their own supplier kept running late.
The old supplier sends the church our way. John drives back to St. Louis and comes home with two more machines. The ice business is no longer a side line.
Next door to the car wash, on the north side of town.
Ice is the whole job now. Marie leaves her state job to run production and packaging full-time.
The neighbor next door makes room for a real production floor.
Hilke's grows into mid-Missouri's largest ice supplier. The territory stretches from Moberly down to Houston, Missouri, and east past St. Louis.
Through the Missouri Valley Ice Association and on our own, Hilke's ships emergency ice into Gulf hurricane response zones -- including a 42,000-lb load to Texas after Wilma, met by a pharmaceutical company saving medications.
Laron and Donna Hilke run the company now -- mid-Missouri's largest ice supplier, with four service lines, a refreshed identity, and the same phone number you've always called.
The new Hilke's lockup -- cursive script in silver on royal blue, with ICE CO. anchored beneath the swoosh -- is a cleaner version of what the business has always been. The signage finally caught up. The work didn't change.
John and Marie founded the company. Laron and Donna run it now. The trucks still pull up on time. The phone still gets answered. When mid-Missouri has a freezer down on a Sunday morning, somebody at Hilke's still picks up.
Fifty-one years of that buys you a business that doesn't have to explain itself.
Laron & Donna Hilke
Owners · Hilke's Ice Co.
New fleet · Central MO Hilke's covers the full cold-chain -- from the trailer in your parking lot to the machine behind your bar to the case of water in your break room.
Refrigerated trailers for events, emergencies, and seasonal overflow. Delivered, plugged in, and cold.
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Authorized Manitowoc & Koolaire sales, leasing, rental, and on-call service. Sized to your operation.
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Filtered bottled water by the pallet. Offices, events, retail, standing-order delivery.
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Self-serve ice trailers for festivals, fairs, races, and large outdoor events. Staged and refilled.
Learn more →Quote in one business day. Same-day on the urgent stuff. Emergencies -- call.